


When I Grow Up I Want to Be...

by Erikthonius



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Dementia, Graduate School, M/M, assisted living, career choices
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 06:15:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19145209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erikthonius/pseuds/Erikthonius
Summary: Will is in medical school.  Nico is not sure what he will be doing, but fate presents him with an option he'd never considered





	When I Grow Up I Want to Be...

**Author's Note:**

> “...like the ghosts of Asphodel... Save me, they seemed to whisper. Remember me. Help me. Comfort me.”
> 
> From “The Blood of Olympus”

Will Solace loved school.  He’d graduated at the top of his class at New Rome University and was starting in the most prestigious (mortal) medical school in the country.  He’d decided that he needed the training in mortal medicine, since he really wanted to work in the “normal” world, and Harvard would set him on that path quite well.  The classes were challenging and he was settling in quite nicely. There was only one thing he didn’t love about the current situation, but that would be solved next year, when Nico finished college and moved out to Boston so that they could be together.

 

=====

 

Nico hated school.  He’d never really liked it, except very vague memories (thank you so much, River Lethe) of his earliest days as a small boy in Venice.  Gods knew, the time at Westover Academy had been miserable, even without a headmaster turning out to be a manticore in disguise. He’d never really finished high school, between his time living either on the streets or in the Underworld, but New Rome University had accepted him.  Being both a hero of the Giant War and Ambassador of Pluto helped with that, but he still didn’t particularly enjoy being a student. His dyslexia was a problem, especially in English (and they didn’t have many textbooks in Italian or ancient Greek), and worst of all, he didn’t really know what he wanted to do when he finished school.  He didn’t want to spend his whole life as his father’s ambassador, and he didn’t see much of a career as a sword fighter. Some people suggested that he become an undertaker, but no-one dared suggest it more than once. Really! He knew a lot of demigods’ funerary customs, and not just those of the Romans and Greeks, but he wanted to do something out in the mortal world, something that really helped people (Will had certainly rubbed off on him), and out there, undertakers seemed to be more of a money grubbing profession than a helping one.  The worst part was that while he was finishing what he hoped would be his final year at New Rome University, his boyfriend was on the other side of the country.

 

=====

 

By the mid-November, that one thing Will didn’t like about school was weighing more heavily on him.  Whenever his workload seemed to be under control and he had a little free time, Nico would either be too caught up in his own studies or off on some mission for his father.  They would Iris message whenever possible, but it wasn’t the same. They both knew that they’d be together over the winter break, but Will needed something to fill his free time.  Professor Z who taught anatomy (and was one of his favorite teachers) had a solution. She got him involved in the LGBT+ group for medical students. It was a little awkward at first; some of the group were rather taken with this handsome son of Apollo, but Will made it clear that he was in a committed relationship.  There were two guys in the group however, Chris and Mike, who didn’t seem to take the hint. He even showed them a picture of his boyfriend (not a very good one in his own opinion, but the real beauty of the son of Hades was hard to catch in a photo), but they just laughed, one of them saying that since this “boyfriend” wasn’t a Harvard man, that it couldn’t be that serious.  They tried to make it sound like they were joking with their flirting, but it still rubbed Will the wrong way. He knew that Nico was still sensitive about his lack of standing in the mortal world, and sometimes nothing that Will could say or do could make his boyfriend feel better about it. When he flatly told them to back off, they said they’d just been kidding, and they seemed to dial it down after that.  Will was grateful for that, since they had a lot of classes together.

 

One of those classes was a medical ethics class with Professor Morley.  At least it was called medical ethics, but it seemed to deal more with how they were supposed to interact with their patients.  (Will figured that calling the class “Bedside Manner” just didn’t make it sound appealing to your average Harvard student.) He’d certainly had plenty of experience dealing with patients when he headed the infirmary at Camp Half Blood (dealing with everything from hypochondriac Ares campers to Aphrodite campers trying to charmspeak their way into rhinoplasties to Hermes campers trying to get you to smuggle things inside their bandages taught you plenty about how to cope with all manner of “patients”), but the class was required, and he was trying to get the perspective of the mortal world.  Another thing that his time at camp had taught him was how to deal with surly authority figures. (After years of Mr. D., this was nothing.) It seemed Professor Morley had it in for a lot of the students, especially the higher ranked ones, which most often meant Chris, Mike, and him.

 

Professor Morley droned on.  “You think you can work miracles.  You think you can cure every ailment.  You think of yourselves as little gods of medicine.”  Unfortunately, that last one got a smirk from Will, not out of vanity, but because it made him think of his own father in the form of Lester Papadopoulos.  That smirk did not go unnoticed. “I see that Mr. Solace is amused by a mention of his own possible shortcomings. Perhaps he’s not the only one. I think that instead of a lecture on Wednesday, a little field trip might have more instructional value.”  He wrote a Boston address on the board. “This is where the class will be meeting. Please be punctual, since this is a locked facility, and I don’t want the staff to waste time buzzing you in one at a time.” 

 

The rest of the session consisted of Professor Morley talking about needing to get used to losing patients.  Although there was some eye-rolling from some of his classmates, Will fixed his face, not to keep from smirking, but because he knew all too well what it was like to lose patients, friends and half-siblings.  He remembered breaking down especially at the deaths of Lee Fletcher and Michael Yew. Although the losses didn’t get easier as he got older, he’d gained more composure. Nico helped a lot with that. His boyfriend had suffered far worse losses and bore them with so much grace.  That reminded him. Nico was coming to visit this weekend. Since the session was his last class and the address was close to Newbury Street, they could meet up immediately afterward and start their Thanksgiving weekend by grabbing a bite at the cafe that they’d liked so much. Maybe Alex and Magnus could join them if they weren’t busy with einherjar duties.  

 

The more he thought about it, the more Will liked the idea.  In fact, he thought, if Nico met up with him immediately after class, first of all, they’d have more time together, always a good thing, and if his classmates (read Chris and Mike) saw the two of them together, maybe they’d let up on the suggestive comments that they said were only jokes.  (Will Solace was a perpetual optimist about people, but even he wondered sometimes.)

 

=====

 

Nico was feeling better.  IMing with Will always made him feel better, especially when his boyfriend had asked him to come to Boston for Thanksgiving.  He hoped that Will would have the whole long weekend free so that they could just hang out together. He knew how important school was to the other boy; he just wished he had something in his own life to look forward to.  Well, at least he had something to look forward to this week.

 

=====

 

“Hey Solace!”  That was MIke. “I know you’re always losing your phone.”  The truth was, he never owned a phone. Phones and demigods, you know.  “So you probably didn’t get the alert from Morley. The Wednesday session is moved to an hour later..”  Great, he wouldn’t have a chance to send Nico an IM. Well, he’d get there early. Will would make it up to him.

 

=====

 

Nico stepped out of the shadows quite easily, but emerged into a classic Nor'easter.  He checked the address to make sure that this was the place that Will had told him to meet up.  It was, but the door was locked. This wouldn’t do; he was getting soaked, and he wasn’t really dressed for it.  He stepped into another shadow and came out inside the building, a trifle drained from two shadow trips so close together.  As he sank down onto a chair, a woman came up to him. She had the air of a nurse about her, something Nico was familiar with from his time in medical facilities, either from hanging around Will or needing to be put back together after yet another quest.

 

“You must be from Professor Morley’s class,” she said to him.  Morley, that was Will’s professor. Nico just nodded slightly, not wanting to give anything away.  “I guess someone else buzzed you in,” she continued. “You’re early, but feel free to chat with any of the residents.  It’s nice that he’s bringing you kids in, some of these people don’t get many visitors.”

 

Nico muttered something about needing to catch his breath for a minute and was grateful when the woman offered him a cup of water without asking.  He took in his surroundings and felt the air of mortality around him. Well, this was obviously some kind of late-term care facility; the sense that Thanatos was close by was strong, but the sense of finality was muted, as if these residents were both aware of their fate and strangely unaware.  As some of these residents approached him, Nico took closer notice of their state. A lot of them were quite old, but not all of them. Some were in street clothes, some were in bathrobes. What they all had in common was, for want of a better term, a sense almost a little like the Fields of Asphodel, a lessening of their sense of self.  What kind of place was this?

 

His thoughts were disrupted by familiar words, but said by a voice he didn’t recognize.

 

“ _ So, is that worthless, thieving piece of trash that stole my child coming to torment me today?” _

 

As he looked over to where he heard the question, the nurse said, somewhat sadly, “That’s Mrs. Della Santos.  Sometimes she forgets her English.”

 

“That’s all right,” Nico replied, “I speak Italian.”

 

The nurse came back with “I don’t think it’s Italian.  My boyfriend took Italian in college, and he couldn’t understand her.  It doesn’t even sound like Italian to me. I think she’s just making up words sometimes.”

 

No, that wasn’t it.  That wasn’t the rolling Roman Italian that he was taught in school as befitted a diplomat’s family; it was the sharp Venetian dialect that he picked up playing in the alleyways with the housekeeper’s children.  The very sound of the language seemed to help restore a little of what that drink of Lethe water had taken from him so long ago. He went over to the older woman, wanting to hear more. 

 

_ “Good afternoon, madam.  My name is Nicolo di Angelo.   How do you do?”  _ He put on the best manners he could remember from his childhood.

 

The older woman looked at him in surprise, but her features softened.   _ “What a nice, polite young man!  I am Sylvia Della Santos. What brings you here today?” _

 

_ “I was going to meet with a friend, but I heard you speaking, and it was only polite to introduce myself to a fellow Venetian.  You are, I presume, from Venice?” _

 

_ “Yes, but I haven’t been there in years.  You say you are a di Angelo? I seem to remember my mother telling me about a family, quite well to do, something in the diplomatic service, but that was years ago, before the war.” _

 

_ “Yes, that would be my grandfather...I mean, my grandfather’s family.” _

 

The woman was inclined to talk.  Nico understood. He knew what it was like to find someone who spoke your native language after always having to translate your thoughts before you could speak.  As they continued to chat, the woman grew more relaxed, smiling more. Nico noticed that she seemed more alert and that the pervasive sense of death eased. A nurse interrupted.

 

“Mrs. Della Santos, it’s time for your medications.”

 

“Yes, yes, I’m just talking to my young friend, Nicolo, here.  He’s so polite, you could stand to learn some manners from him.”

 

The nurse looked at her in surprise.  “Speaking English again?”

 

“Foolish girl, of course I’m speaking English.  I’ve been in this country longer than you’ve been alive.  I’m a respected professor of philosophy.” The older woman took a cup of water and a handful of pills from the nurse.  She swallowed the pills with a gulp of the water and continued her conversation with Nico, switching back to the Venetian Italian.

 

“ _ These young girls!  They mean well, I suppose, but they’re always in a hurry.  No time to talk to an old woman. They’re pretty, though. You might like to talk to pretty girls more than to me.” _

 

_ “Oh, no,”  _ Nico replied.  “ _ I’m enjoying talking to you more.” _

 

Mrs. Della Santos looked him up and down, as if she were taking his measure.  Then she laughed, a rough bark. “ _ No, I suppose they’re not your type.” _

 

Her laughter caught the attention of an old man who was sitting by himself, muttering.  Nico’s companion gestured to him, inviting him to come over. The older man slowly walked over to them.  There was an unfocused air about him. Again Nico was reminded of the dead of Asphodel, those poor souls who drifted about with little memory of who they’d been when they’d been alive.  

 

Mrs. Della Santos had switched back to English.  She introduced them. “Nicolo, this is Elton Hall.  Elton, this is my young friend Nicolo. He’s from Venice, like me.”

 

At first, the older man didn’t seem to understand, but after the introductions were repeated at a louder volume, a bit more light seemed to come into his eyes.  He said to Nico, “You’ve traveled a long way then,” as if Nico had just come from Venice that morning, and then launched into a kind of rambling fragmented discourse about his own travels around the Mediterranean.  At first it made little sense, but as old Mr. Hall went on and on, the fragments seemed to become more and more coherent. In a way it was like talking to the wandering souls in Asphodel, but those poor lost things never got any better.  Here, he could feel the two residents becoming stronger and more aware as he talked to them.

 

=====

 

Will’s ADHD was cranked up to 11.  He could barely pay attention to what the teacher was saying.  Part of him was distracted by the presence of a lot of people in questionable health.  The other part was focused on finding Nico and apologizing to him for being late. He tried to focus on what Morley was droning on about.

 

“I know you think that you can cure anything.”  Professor Morley lectured his class, assembled in the recreation area of the facility.  “Well, today you are going to meet some people who don’t need miracles, they don’t need the latest surgical technique or pharmacological breakthrough.  What they need is human contact. My bright young students, these people are dying, and there is no physician who can cure that.” 

 

Will looked up at that, thinking about how, if you knew the right Physician (who happened to be his half-brother), you might be able to argue that, but he kept his mouth shut and his face still this time.  Some of his classmates were engaged in some less than subtle eye-rolling as the professor continued.

 

“Your assignment is simple, but I suspect you’ll be surprised at how difficult it will be.  I want each one of you to interact with at least one of the patients here. Spend some time with them, learn their names, find out something about them.  I’m not interested in medical histories; I want you to learn some human histories. You’ll find that they are just as valuable as any blood work or x-rays.”

 

As he waved his students into the common area, Professor Morley steeled himself.  Sylvia Della Santos had been his mentor before she became his mother-in-law. He revered the older woman and had treasured their relationship, but the sudden death of her daughter, his beloved wife Andrea, had broken the brilliant woman, and she quickly spiraled into dementia.  He visited her as often as he could, but he never knew whether she’d be that poor shattered shadow of her brilliant self who could only whisper in broken English or the raging fury who accused him of stealing her child from her, ironic, since it was Sylvia herself who’d urged her daughter to marry her favorite student.  He knew that it wasn’t Sylvia’s fault, but rather the cruelty of the disease. Well, at least he could provide some company for some of the others at the facility, and maybe, just maybe, some of his students might learn a little bit about the limits of modern medicine. Either way, he owed it both to Sylvia and to the memory of his wife not to let her languish here day after day, never seeing anyone she’d known before the dementia had put her here.

 

He was quite shocked when he heard the familiar voice calling his name, not in a confused quaver or an accusatory howl, but rather in the warm tones he’d long associated with her when she’d been so alive, so brilliant.

 

“Thomas, you’ve come to see me.”  She turned to the young man she’d been talking to.  He didn’t recognize the boy, but he looked to be in his early twenties.  She spoke to him in the crisp Venetian Italian that she used at home.  _ “Excuse me, this is my son-in-law.  Ah, perhaps you’re one of his students.” _

 

The unfamiliar youth replied in the same language,   _ “No, ma’am.  I’m not a student here, but my friend might be in his class.”   _ Sylvia raised her eyebrow at the word “ _ friend” _ but didn’t say anything.

 

_ “If you’ll pardon us for a moment…Maybe your ‘friend’ is here with him, if you’d like to find him.” _

 

_ “Yes, ma’am.” _

 

As Mrs. Della Santos walked over to speak to her son-in-law, Nico felt another presence before he heard her voice calling out in a frightened voice.

 

“Is he coming?  Is he coming today?” the woman said in an overly loud and anxious tone.  “I’ve been waiting for him.”

 

One of the nurses saw Nico looking at the woman and explained to him, “That’s Mrs. Stone.  Poor dear, she’s been a widow for years, but we think she’s talking about her husband.”

 

He couldn’t put it into words, but he knew that the old woman wasn’t talking about her husband.  He closed his eyes for a moment to make a silent inquiry and then approached the woman.

 

“He won’t be coming today, but he promises it will be soon.”  He figured that if anyone saw him talking to this woman that they’d assume he was just comforting her, but he really did know the answer to her question.  

 

The old woman looked up in surprise and asked, “Do you know him?”

 

Nico nodded.  In his time working for his father, he’d become rather familiar with Thanatos.

 

“Tell me about him.  Is he horrifying and terrible?”

 

Nico looked thoughtful.  In truth, after his brother Eros, for whom Nico still held a slight grudge, Thanatos was the most beautiful god he’d ever seen.  “No, ma’am, he’s actually very beautiful, and he’s very kind.”

 

=====

 

Will was doing well, considering how many of the residents were not in the best health, to put it mildly.  He’d spent the last few years getting a grip on his empathic senses, but sometimes it was still a little overwhelming when there were so many unwell people around him.  At least they were well cared for. Maybe he should come here regularly to build up his resistance. Well, for now some distraction helped. He was amused by watching Mike trying to chat up the rather hunky physical therapist instead of interacting with residents.  Chris on the other hand was in a bit of shock.

 

He’d made some remarks about how awful it would be to have to talk to ‘feeble minded old codgers who could barely remember their own names.’  He was approached an old gentleman in a bathrobe who pointed at the boy’s t shirt. The formula  (nicely brought out by his pecs)  _ e _ i _ \- 1 = 0 _  was written on the shirt.

 

“Euler!” said the old man.”Euler’s identity.  Nice, but fairly basic. Wait, here’s one for you.”  He picked up a piece of paper and a pen and wrote out a formula in a shaking hand.  “Solve that. It’s a little early, but season’s greetings.

y=(ln(x/m - sa))/r2  

Chris stared at what the man had written.  

 

“Go on, solve it,” the old man gestured impatiently.

 

He scratched his head and picked up the pen.  After a while, he laughed. “Season’s greetings to you.”  He returned the paper, where he’d written merry = x - mas as a solution.

 

The old man stuck a hand out.  “I’m Yuri Gamovitz.”

 

Chris looked at him in awe.  “I know you! You wrote “Transfinite Series for Toddlers.”  I still have a copy of it.”

 

Gamovitz laughed.  “Is that old thing still in print?  Ah well, it’s been a while since I’ve published anything.”

 

Chris was star-struck.  He launched into a chat with the old man that Will couldn’t follow about set theory.  Will sat up suddenly. He’d forgotten about Nico! He was not looking forward to the irate Iris message that he’d be getting later today.

 

Almost on cue, he heard an old woman ask “Is he coming?”  

 

Will didn’t know why, but he turned to see who had spoken.  It took him awhile to figure out where the voice had come from, and by the time he’d found the source, the woman was engaged in conversation.  When he saw who she was talking to, Will’s whole posture changed.

 

Will always had trouble explaining to people how beautiful Nico was.  His own good looks, inherited from Apollo, were more obvious, blond hair, tanned skin, surfer’s body, but Nico’s beauty was more elusive.  True, his slimly muscled physique was eye catching, but there was so much more to it, and photographs could never capture it, because it was so much more than mere appearance.  When the son of Hades was in battle mode, his black sword a blur about him and every move so precise, it was more obvious, but for Will, this moment captured perfectly why his heart would always belong to this beautiful, beautiful man, so unaware of the grace that permeated him.

 

Nico had little use for most of humanity and shunned most social situations, but here, talking to a woman at the end of her life, giving her comfort and dignity, he embodied his own name and truly was of the angels.  Will was transfixed at the sight.

 

That spell was broken by something most unwelcome.  “I don’t know who that is, but I’d really like to meet him!”  That would be the voice of Mike who evidently was having no luck with the aforementioned hunky physical therapist and saw something he seemed to like even better.

 

The coldness in his own voice shocked even Will.  “Maybe I’ll introduce you.” (Like a week from never.)

 

At the sound of his voice, Nico looked up.  His face lit up as he caught sight of the familiar blond head.  The two boys came together. Neither was willing to make a fuss in a room full of strangers, but their hands linked together so smoothly, so comfortably, as they always did.  Will only looked away from Nico briefly to see Mike make a placating gesture of apology. Their moment was cut short by another voice.

 

“Mr. Solace, perhaps you’d like to introduce me to your friend.”  That was Professor Morley, but there was a tone to his voice that Will wasn’t sure of.  Before he could reply, another voice made the introduction.

 

“Thomas, this is my young friend, Nicolo di Angelo.  He is a fellow Venetian, and we’ve been having a nice chat.”  Will didn’t recognize the older woman, but he could see that the professor deferred to her.  “Ah, Nicolo, this must be your friend. He is quite handsome.” She gave him a nod of approval, and Nico introduced him.

 

Professor Morley raised his voice so that all of the students could hear him.  “Class is concluded, but I encourage you all to continue your visits. We will resume on Tuesday.”  Then he turned back to Nico. “Young man, I presume you are a student.”

 

“No sir, I’m just here to visit my aah, to visit Will.” Nope, not fooling anybody here.  

 

=====

 

Most of the other students had dispersed, except for Chris, who was still engaged in conversation with the old man he’d befriended.  Nico had attracted a bit of a following among the patients and was chatting with some of them. Will sat close by after Nico had warned him not to wander off.  (“I don’t want you wearing yourself out trying to heal them. Nobody is going to die today (Yes, I checked), but some of them are close to it, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”)  He did glance over and noticed his professor engaging in some animated conversations with the nursing staff. Eventually, he mentioned to Nico that it was time for them to be going, as there were tentative dinner plans with Alex and Magnus.  

 

As they got up to go, Professor Morley gestured for them to come over.  Will expected him to have some words with him about the next class. Instead, the professor ignored him and turned to Nico.

 

“Mr., ah di Angelo?  May have a bit of your time?”

 

Nico nodded, surprised, and the older man continued.

 

“I don’t know if your, ah, friend, told you who I am.  I’m attempting to teach proper patient care to his class, but I’m actually looking for an assistant in the field of end-of-life care.”

 

Nico wasn’t sure what this man was trying to get at, but began to explain his lack of qualifications.  The professor waved his concerns aside.

 

“Young man, what is called for here is not academics, but an ability to understand, to empathize with people who know that their lives are coming to an end, specifically those who may not always be fully cognizant in the present.  I’ve watched the way you were able to connect with the residents here and give them the dignity that they deserve but has been taken from them. Perhaps you don’t realize how precious that is…”

 

Nico thought about those poor souls wandering through the Fields of Asphodel, how they’d lost so much, and how much simple contact with the living could mean to them.

 

“No, I understand it very well, sir.”

 

“Well, young man, what I am proposing is a teaching assistantship.  You would be working with me toward a doctorate in end-of-life care while doing research and teaching.  There is a considerable stipend attached, as well as a complete waiver of tuition…”

 

Nico smiled.  HIs mother had left him a large annuity, which had only increased in value during the decades he’d languished in the Lotus Hotel, so that was hardly a concern.  Still, he expressed his feeling of not being qualified especially because of his worst problem with school. “I don’t really know...and I have really bad dyslexia…”

 

“That’s hardly a problem.  Most of the literature is digitized; you can listen to all of it.  Listen, I don’t need another med school hotshot; I’ve spent my entire career with those spoiled brats.”  Then he cast a glance at Will, perhaps sensing Nico’s bridling at the critique of his boyfriend. “Alright, some of them actually might make good doctors someday, but what I need is someone who understands what death is about and knows that it’s the one thing every human being has to face.  I don’t know what you’ve gone through in your life to teach you this, but I saw more humanity in you in one hour than I’ve seen in three decades of teaching the ‘best and the brightest.’”

 

Nico was stunned.  Other than Will, no-one had ever talked to him like this, praising his ‘humanity.’ 

 

The older man continued.  “What these people have lost is so much of themselves, of lives that were so full, but their conditions have robbed them of so many of their memories, and I’m hoping that we can find more ways to restore that to them in their last hours.”

 

That last part struck Nico more than anything else.  He knew what it was like to lose so much of his past, and yet, just by chatting with Sylvia about her life, he felt that he was recovering, not so much distinct memories, but the flavors and scents of a childhood that the river Lethe had stolen from him.  

 

“I’m not asking you to make up your mind immediately,” the professor concluded.  “But I hope you’ll consider my offer. And I hope I can convince you to look in on some of the residents here from time to time.”

 

Nico thought about his own returning memories as well as how the old woman had seemed to recover herself as they talked.  He thought about how the wandering souls of Asphodel seemed to crave his presence when he traveled there and how it seemed to ease their suffering.  A small smile crossed his face as he replied to this dignified professor. “I don’t live in Boston, but I’ll be moving here at the beginning of the year.  If your offer is still open, I think I’d like to give it a try.” Then he continued, switching back to Italian, his voice loud enough so that Sylvia could hear him,  _ “And I’d be happy to look in on Mrs. Della Santos.” _

 

=====

 

Nico di Angelo had never loved school, but this was a new beginning.  He was finally finding a way to be what he was, a son of the Underworld and yet living in this world.  He walked onto the campus beside his boyfriend with his heart full of hope.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This actually draws a lot from my life. I've done some volunteer work in dementia care facilities. The people in them have had so much taken from them, but are still very much people with a great need for human contact. Professor Z is real, although she is not on the Harvard faculty. The hunky physical therapist is also real. Although I have nothing but the highest respect and love for nurses, I did have the experience of a nurse tell me that a resident was making up words when the woman was actually speaking in German to me. Chris and Mike, by the way, are named for two of my exes, and you can probably guess that we didn't necessarily part on the best of terms. Finally, I used italics to show where Nico and Ms. Della Santos are speaking in Italian. I don't speak much Italian, but I've been assured that the Venetian dialect really is quite distinct, to the point where other Italians have been known to find it incomprehensible.


End file.
